Jan 5th. 2010

Do You Get It?

Matthew 13:51-52 "Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

Sometimes I read something and then look back and try to remember what it was that I just read. Have you ever done that? I think I know what I read and yet when pressed hard the memory of the information evades me. I would have loved to have been in that group of disciples when Jesus asked these words. “Do you understand this?” It is so easy to respond: “Oh, yes!” “Got it!” “Next!” However, every time I move ahead too fast, I miss the power of the moment and the promise provided in the teaching.

The foundation of this passage is simple. If you have been trained for the kingdom, i.e. studied, prayed, listened, followed Jesus, memorized scripture, allowed scripture to change your life, committed yourself to discipleship and given yourself to the teachings of scripture, THEN you are given a great calling to bring out, or make known, the treasure of what you have learned. By the way, if you are one of the trained for the kingdom of heaven, you are in a unique group of people, for this is not easily attained.

People need guides. Life needs a roadmap; uncertainty and calamity resides at every crossroad. Therefore, Jesus is calling His devoted followers, His friends, to the challenge. “Do you get it?” Jesus asks. If so, the proof is in the retelling of the things we have learned both of what is new and what is old. The power of the Scripture is that all of scripture is valuable. The entire message from God through Jesus is our guide.

Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Ok, friends, here’s the challenge. If we are keeping this good news for ourselves, what good is that? What was it that we just read? Oh yeah, got it…share it! Amen.